Ecos parkrun commemorative tree planting and litter pick
This weekend saw three local groups combining their efforts at Ecos Nature Park to make the park more welcoming for people from the local community, visitors and tourists. Ecos parkrun, Ballymena Runners and the Friends of Ecos are all regular visitors to the park, and have a shared interest in the upkeep of it for the benefit of everyone.
The three groups got together to plant oak trees to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Ecos parkrun,and to do a litter pick around the paths and parking areas.
Some of our litter pickers and tree planters
Susanna Allen, Event Director for Ecos parkrun, said: “This month we celebrate 10 years of Ecos parkrun, so it was important to us to mark the occasion. We were delighted to work with Friends of Ecos and Ballymena Runners to plant 10 oak trees, one for each year of the parkrun.
Carus Campbell, Ian Hunter and Alex Scullion from Friends of Ecos, Susanna Allen and Matthew Allen from Ecos parkrun and Alistair Donaghy and Chris Young from Ballymena Runners
“We also worked together to complete a litter pick which benefits everyone who uses the park, and leaves it litter free and tidy for our 10th anniversary run on 26th March. Parkrun tourism is thriving and over the past 10 years, 6,700 people from over 270 running clubs from across the UK and Ireland have come to visit Ecos parkrun.”
Susanna also paid tribute to the hundreds of volunteers who help out, adding: “I’d like to thank all the volunteers at the parkrun and everyone who helped with the litter pick today.”
Isla & Mandy Gregg, Jo Tams Gregg and Sue Tams
Alex Scullion, chair of Friends of Ecos, said: "Friends of Ecos are very happy to be involved in assisting in any venture which increases the ecology and biodiversity in the park,and are especially keen to be involved in the celebration of the 10th anniversary of Ecos parkrun."
Alastair Donaghy, chair of Ballymena Runners, commented: “Many of our 350 club members take part in the Ecos parkrun every week, and many of our club runs take place in and around the park. We are delighted to be playing our part by helping make Ecos a tidy and pleasant place for everyone in the community to enjoy.”
Over 20 people took part in the activities and collected more than a dozen bags of litter.
Jim, Patricia and Maurice
Sandra and Iverene
More busy litter pickers
Pat, Isla, Mandy and Jo
The Ecos parkrun 10th anniversary parkrun will take place on Saturday 26th March with group warm up at 9.15am and the presentation of the Ecos spirit of parkrun award. Susanna added: “We would encourage people to join us at parkrun to run, jog or walk with us. ”
Information on the events and how to join in are on the Ecos parkrun and Ballymena Runners websites and facebook pages.
Return to Running group completes the 6 week course.
Saturday saw the Return to running group complete their last run in their Couch to 5k programme. Over the past 5 weeks they completed the parkrun on a walk / run basis gradually building up to running the complete course on Saturday.
Runners from the Return to Running group
Well done everyone.